LeoVegas charged by the Danish Gambling Authority after extending its license
LeoVegas was charged by the Danish Gambling Authority, Spillemyndigheden for not meeting the national conditions for proper client screening and anti-money laundering necessities.
During the examination of 20 LeoVegas players, the Authority discovered that the operator, which has a Danish license until 2026, had violated AML regulations in five cases from 2017 to 2019.
During this time, the controller claims that the Nasdaq-listed online casino operator allowed 5 cliebts to deposit between DKK 1.2 and 1.6 million somewhere in the range of six and 46 months, without verifying whether or not the funds for these transactions were obtained from criminal sources.
This was exacerbated by LeoVegas’ failure to comply with the Authority’s reporting commitment, which expected the company to notify the Anti-Money Laundering Secretariat in the event of AMl violations.
The controller believed that LeoVegas acted too late in four of the five cases because the Secretariat was not notified between 10 and 22 months after the operator doubted money laundering and was unable to negate the doubt.
The controller also criticizes LeoVegas for making its first report only after Spillemyndigheden discovered the four transactions while reviewing its sample.
The Authority explained
“The Danish Gambling Authority notes that the rules on customer due to diligence measures and the investigation and reporting obligations are fundamental in the Anti-Money Laundering Act and breaches of the rules consequently lead to an order or an action brought against the gambling operator, as a principle.”
However, the Authority added that the declarations have not resulted in any serious action, as the company informed about implementing “new business policy” on 1 January 2020, demonstrating their persistence regulations and AML investigations will be carried out at a much earlier.
On January 1st, the operator also changed its reporting processes, so that the Secretariat will directly notify the Authority if the firm evolves dubious of potentially illegal tax avoidance action.